On this week-long Study Tour, our classroom moves from Copenhagen to the Spanish region of Catalonia. The Mediterranean diet is known for being healthy, with regional products and a proud food culture. But little is said about the huge export of vegetables, and what the last 50 years of meat production and agriculture have done to the soil, ecosystems, and sea life. Our adventure starts in the busy food Mecca of Barcelona. Here we will visit traditional food markets as well as new sustainable and biodynamic vegetable sellers. As we dig into the urban, sutianable food culture of Barcelona, we will hear how the municipality of Barcelona takes care of the food waste of its inhabitants, and visit local restaurants.
With Barceolona as our base, we will then travel out into the more peri-urban areas where food and wine production have thrived in this warm climate. We see the theories of the course come to life as we follow sustainable thinkers, chefs, farmers, agronomists, artists, and entrepreneurs in search of the ethic taste for food. We study humans’ relationships with food, consumers’ understanding of the footprint of food production, and their thoughts about the food waste we leave behind us.
Tour Objectives
- Learn about different challenges with food waste in Northern and Southern Europe
- Improve our understanding of the different cultural challenges and obstacles to improving sustainable agriculture and consumption
- Understand that good food is produced not in haste and with only profit in mind, but with patience and passion
Possible Activities
- Visit a Catalan natural wine vineyard to see how sustainable practices can regenerate the soil and bring life to a field
- Sort biowaste in Barcelona
- Speak with leaders from sustainable restaurants and communities in the region about their approaches and philosophies to food production
- Learn about livestock farming and the fishing industry of Barcelona